Lewis and Clark on a heavy haul
Can you imagine a haul that requires four years of planning? That’s the time heavy haulers with Oregon-based Emmert International put into planning and executing a move earlier this year of two massive barrel-shaped coke drums.
Kenworth T800s, spec’d for super-heavy haul with 550-hp engines and 18-speed transmissions backed by a 4-speed auxiliary, hauled the drums for ConocoPhillips. After traveling from Lewiston, Idaho, 700 miles east to the company’s oil refinery in Billings, Mont., the drums will be used in a $50 million upgrade of the refinery due to be completed next fall.
“The coke drum moves presented us with one of the most challenging routes ever faced by a heavy transport company,” said Terry Emmert, company founder.
Remarkable is the custom design work Emmert put into the two trailers, dubbed Lewis and Clark (pictured), 226-foot-long 32-axle 128-wheel trailers distributing top and bottom sections of each shipment evenly. The nicknames stemmed from the loads following part of the exploratory trail of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Emmert used one T800 to pull and another to push each load, grossing 702,200 pounds, with a third T800 serving as a spare power unit.
“The coke drum moves presented us with one of the most challenging routes ever faced by a heavy transport company.”
Terry Emmert,
company founder
The first shipment left in February to encounter an arctic blast of winter weather, which delayed its arrival until April. The second was in turn delayed en route by high runoff from the Yellowstone River that flooded the U.S. 12 bridge crossing. It finally made Billings Aug. 4, marking the end of the historic haul. Visit emmertintl.com and kenworth.com.
Aftermarket parts provider Alliance Truck Parts has added an EZ-Assist clutch designed for work truck applications that require severe torque transfer for heavy loads. Rated at 2,050 lb.-ft. of torque, the new model in the EZ-Assist line targets the most demanding applications, including gravel and heavy construction hauling, logging and mining.
Allison introduced a 10-speed fully automatic twin-countershaft range-type truck transmission called the TC-10. 
Like other Allisons, the transmission will have a torque converter with lockup clutch in place of a standard dry clutch at front. But it will have helical gears integrated with a twin-countershaft layout for the five forward speeds and the reverse gears in the main box, as well as a two-speed planetary range box at the rear. Production will begin Oct. 1, 2012.
